Fate's Strings
by ladyjadeite
Summary: Fate always has a way of pulling people together. Cedric Diggory x Cho Chang. Set during PoA. cedric cho cedriccho chocedric chodric cedricxcho choxcedric cdcc cccd
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**: The story is set during Cho's fourth year, Cedric's fifth year, aka during PoA.

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The first Hogsmeade weekend. The first Saturday of freedom. The thrill, the rush encompassed the students as they hurried into the small town. Cho had raced ahead of her friends, eager to buy the newly published Quidditch: Through an Eagle's Eyes. Everyone - that is, every practical quidditch player - already owned Quidditch Through The Ages, but the newest quidditch book was supposed to be a wonderful analytical tool, something to give an edge to certain players who knew how to look at all angles and possibilities.

With book in hand, she released a happy sigh and a brilliant smile that stunned those who passed her in the walkway. The book wasn't for her; she had bought it as a present for someone. She giggled to herself. It was for a _special_ someone, her crush of several years. She was careful not to say whom she liked, especially not to the someone in question, and she wanted to wait until the right _time_ to tell him. And this, she determined, was the right time. The first Hogsmeade weekend of the school year.

She hugged the leather-bound book to her chest in excitement and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. As she turned the corner, her smile widened and her heart skipped a beat. There he was. Roger Davies. The handsome, kind, smart Ravenclaw quidditch captain. He was sure to appreciate the book... and maybe her wildest dreams would take fancy. He would realize he had feelings for her, too.

Cho raised her hand, about to call his name, when she stopped. The words froze inside her mouth. He was exiting Honeydukes, holding the door open for... Marietta Edgecombe. Cho felt a cold breeze hit her square in the face. Marietta smiled at Roger, and took his arm, and the two of them started walking towards the next shoppe. They looked so nice together...

Cho swallowed hard, turning abruptly away so they wouldn't see her. The last thing she needed was to fake a smile and talk about the weather. So, she did the only thing she could think of. She ran. Quickly. Darting between couples. Anything to get away. She wasn't paying much attention; her legs seemed to move automatically, simply carrying her body with them. When she crashed into a wall that appeared suddenly, she mumbled an apology, sidestepped the wall, and raced away.

The wall stared at her, curiosity and concerned filling his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but she kept running. Someone clapped him on the shoulder and he turned back.

"Cedric?" Logan Cadwallader asked. "You okay?"

"Yeah..." Cedric mumbled.

"I didn't think Chang carried quite a punch." Joseph Summerby chuckled. "Although I'd guess that'd be the reason she's the new seeker for Ravenclaw."

"She's the new seeker?"

"Cedric, where's your head?" Logan asked. "We were just talking about the new teams at breakfast this morning."

"Sorry, it must've slipped my mind." Cedric said.

"I know where his mind is." Joseph teased. "On all those girls who sent him love notes last week."

Joseph clasped his heart in a mock-sigh. "Did you decide on who will be lucky girl?"

Cedric laughed nervously, and rubbed the back of his neck. "That tradition is a bit antiquated, don't you think?"

"I think it's a rumor Madam Puddifoot started." Logan raised his hand to mock-whisper it to the guys. They all laughed. "You have to admit that it's good for business. The first Hogsmeade weekend marks the beginning of 'couple'dom."

"There are a lot of couples." Joseph pointed out, and they all turned to watch a couple pass them holding hands. Cedric turned his head in the direction Cho ran off to, trying to catch a glimpse of her presence. When he thought he saw a flicker of her hair, he blurted out, "Guys, I'll be back in a second."

Cedric rushed off without another thought. His stride was longer than Cho's, so he was able to traverse the crowd a bit quicker, but she still had quite a leeway on him. When she reached the end of the Hogsmeade shops, he watched her pause as she threw a package in the last receptacle. Without a look back, she ran up the path towards the castle.

He paused in his own steps, wondering why he had been following her. He looked at the receptacle, and removed the package. A brand new book? A Ravenclaw wouldn't throw away a brand new book, would she? He wiped the smudges off the cover, and opened it to its first page. And suddenly, he understood. Written inside was a simple signature...

_Love, Cho_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: I know in canon, Roger and Marietta were not seen as an 'item', but we really don't know if they had any type of relationship since they were even more sub-character-ish than Cedric and Cho. Just go along with it. ;) :) Also, I don't remember if Roger was a prefect, so I just made him one.

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The next day, Hannah Abbott surprised Cho by coming up to her and stopping her in the middle of the corridor. "Here you go!"

Cho blinked at the parchment thrust in front of her face. Not forgetting her manners, she smiled. "Hey, Hannah!"

"Come on. The meeting's going to start soon." Hannah tugged on her arm. The surprised look never vanished from Cho's face.

"What meeting? Where are we going?" Cho tried to look at the flyer and at Hannah and at her steps. _Sundays with Seekers_ blazed in bold letters at the top. She tried to scan the rest of the paper before she bumped into Hannah who had stopped abruptly.

"Here we are!" Hannah announced in a singsong voice. Cho looked around the corridor, then back at the class. It was the Muggle Studies classroom, naturally sans the books and the professor, but it was full of various students from all houses. Well, except for Slytherin, which could be expected as they hardly ever fraternized with the other three houses. Orange streamers decorated the walls and tables in a bright frenzy, and some were tied into floppy bows on the backs of chairs.

A tall, good-looking boy stepped away from the crowd, and walked up to her with a big grin on his face. Cho blinked. Cedric... yeah, she reassured herself of his name. The Hufflepuff quidditch captain. She recognized him from the school bulletin.

"Hey!" His tone was warm and hugged her like an old friend. Cho immediately felt at ease. "I'm glad you could come."

She nodded dumbly, and glanced back down at the flyer. "Sundays with Seekers?"

"Yeah." He grin never slipped. "I thought it would be a great inter-house unity club."

"Inter-house unity?" Cho echoed. Her face broke into a lovely smile. "That's a wonderful idea."

"So, you'll join?" He looked hopeful, and Cho found herself nodding again. Relief washed over his face, and his gray eyes sparkled. Gray? Cho blinked again. She couldn't remember noticing anyone having eyes the color of silver before. And his eyes... they were... unique.

"Great!" He exclaimed, and then looked a bit sheepish as he added a huddled whisper. "I was hoping you would, seeing as it would only be me if no one else joined - and then, 'Sundays with Seekers' would lose its appeal."

She laughed. "Where are the other two seekers?"

"Well, I didn't get a chance to ask Harry yet." He swallowed. "And Draco? Well... he said he couldn't be bothered."

"That's sad."

"But not completely unexpected."

She nodded again and read through the flyer. "What exactly are we going to do in 'Sundays with Seekers'?"

"Basically, talk. About quidditch, naturally, but it's not limited to just quidditch. Basically, get to know each other." He grinned again. "And eat junk food."

He waved at the table behind him. It was full of crisps and cookies, and punch. "The club is open to anyone from any house, and I just came up with the name because... well... I'm a seeker, and it's Sunday... and I thought you'd be more willing to join than say Roger."

At the mention of his name, Cho blanched. Cedric must have noticed because he creased an eyebrow. Cho, for her part though, quickly recovered with a small smile. "Yeah... Roger is pretty busy. With studying for OWLs, and being made Captain and Prefect..."

Her voice faltered when she realized Cedric was in the exact same position as Roger. She swallowed her embarrassment and continued. "Anyways... 'Sundays with Seekers' sounds much better than 'Sundays with Captains' or 'Sundays with Prefects'."

Cedric chuckled. "I think the latter two would drive everyone away."

She laughed at that, her eyes catching a flick of robes as it passed the entrance. "I think I just saw Harry."

She peeked her head out the door and grinned back at Cedric. "Yup. It's him. I'll go ask him."

She ran out the door with Cedric at her heels. "Harry!"

Harry paused in his steps, stunned. Ron Weasley was right beside him, nudging Harry forward. Cho smiled. "Hey! Cedric's forming a club, 'Sundays with Seekers', and it's opened for everyone to join. Would you like to be a part of it?"

"Um.. teapot.. elliptical dragon."

"Huh?" Cho was confused. Ron gave Harry a funny look, and pulled him back by his robes.

"Sorry." Ron apologized. "He's... he's just got a lot on his mind."

Cho blinked. Harry kept staring at her, his mouth slightly agape, even as Ron grabbed his shoulder and pivoted him around. Ron grimaced and pushed Harry off in the other direction. He waved at Cho. "We'll see you later!"

Cho scrunched her eyebrows as they disappeared from sight. She turned to Cedric, who came up next to her. "What was that about?"

"You don't know?" Cedric asked. When Cho shook her head, Cedric smiled. "Well... it looks like it's just you and me."

Cho felt herself nodding automatically as he steered her back into the room. 'Sundays with Seekers' was a good idea, even if Harry and Draco didn't want to be a part of it. But she wondered what gave Cedric the idea. Maybe later, she'd ask him.


	3. Chapter 3

When Cedric caught her as she walked out of her Potions class, Cho never thought anything more of it. He told her it was so they could discuss plans and ideas for the next _Sundays with Seekers_ meeting; and she thought that was reasonable enough. He was friendly, and he was nice. He was the model Hufflepuff, Cho surmised, and she enjoyed talking with him.

Her friends would give her strange looks, or were those looks reserved for him? - she couldn't tell, but they never came out and _said_ anything. Maybe it was because he was a Hufflepuff, and rarely did Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws spend time together. Or maybe, it was because Cedric was a handsome boy, and he actually possessed a brain. Cho discovered that, during one of their walks as topics flew in every direction. They couldn't talk about quidditch all the time, and as he kept catching her between classes, they talked about everything.

On one Sunday, as she approached the clubroom, Hannah caught her outside and told her of the sudden cancellation. _Cedric couldn't make it_, she said. Cho was surprised. He didn't say anything the day before... and wouldn't he want for the meeting to continue even if he was unavailable? It made no sense at all. Hannah couldn't answer that, but merely shrugged and said that it wasn't fun without Cedric. She skipped away before Cho could protest, leaving Cho numb in her wake.

Cho peeked her head inside the classroom. It was indeed empty. She stepped inside and took a seat. Just because Cedric couldn't make it didn't mean that the meeting had to be canceled. Last time she checked, she was still a seeker - and if anyone wanted to talk or chat, she'd be there. She took out a small mystery novel from her robes, and flipped it open to the chapter she had left off.

She was in the middle of where Alvin was looming over Nancy, who had just accused him of hexing Avery, when a hand touched her shoulder. She yelped and jumped out of her seat. Startled, she hugged her robes tightly to her chest and her eyes landed on Cedric.

"Sorry." He apologized. He gazed around the room, distractedly. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for the meeting." She narrowed her eyes. "What are _you_ doing here?"

He sat down next to her dejectedly. "I... I wasn't sure if you had heard..."

His expression softened her anger, and she sat back down. She looked at him sympathetically. It was hard for her to keep grudges. "Hannah told me that you couldn't make it."

His eyes clouded over. "Oh..."

"She didn't tell me why..." Cho continued. She wanted to ask, but she stopped herself when he released a pent-up sigh.

"I..." He paused as if he was unsure of whether he should tell her. "I just found out that my parents had to put my cat, Floppers, to sleep."

Cho blinked in surprise. She wasn't exactly expecting that and she wasn't sure what to say. The words rolled around in her mouth, and she nearly squeaked, "I'm sorry."

He nodded, and murmured. "It... it wasn't unexpected. Floppers was already over thirty years old, and she's been sick for several years. Always in pain, despite the spells we used, and she looked miserable. They just thought... it was time."

Cho reached out and squeezed the top of his hand. "It'll be okay."

She thought she sounded lame as soon as she said that, but she couldn't very well take her words back. He looked at the hand she placed on his, lifted it slightly off, and rotated his hand so their palms would be facing. He interlaced his fingers with her and gave a short squeeze in reply.

He looked at her, a light glinting in his eyes, and smiled. "Thanks."


	4. Chapter 4

_Sundays with Seekers_ was turning into quite a large group of friends. Mainly Hufflepuffs, but there were also some Gryffindors and a few Ravenclaws. It was nice, Cho thought, oblivious to the fact that many of the girls there often hounded Cedric with questions of a personal nature. She learned his favorite color (which surprisingly wasn't _yellow_), his favorite flower (he was manly enough to not shy away from that question), what he looks for in a friend, and what his all-time favorite birthday gift was. The questions went around the room, igniting friendly debates on what was more important (honesty or compassion) and soon, it felt as if everyone knew _everything_ about each other. It was a refreshing change.

One sunny Friday afternoon, Cho -as expected- was in the library. She knew how to budget her time, and knew that even though she could have gone flying, she needed to finish her homework today to free the rest of the weekend for Hogsmeade and _Sundays with Seekers_. As she scribbled the ends to her essays, she realized she needed to double-check a fact on her Potions assignment. She stood from the table and hurried down the rows of books to find the answer.

Just as she turned the corner, she halted abruptly, her eyes widening at the sight of Roger and Marietta snogging behind the shelves. She turned away, blushing at the intrusion, hiding herself behind the end of the case.

"Oh, Roger." Marietta smiled sweetly. "It's like fate has pulled us together."

Roger chuckled softly into her hair. "A destined meeting."

"The first day I met you..." Marietta murmured against his chest. "I knew you were the one."

"I felt the same way." Roger smiled.

Cho bit her lip, willing back the sudden tears that sprung on her face. She ran from the stacks, not paying much attention to her steps, leaving her books behind. The library doors were heavy, but she pushed them open as if they were made of cardboard instead of oak. She hurried out, not caring where she was going... and ran straight into Cedric.

"Cho, are you all right?" Cedric asked, his face filled with concern. She stepped back from him, debating whether or not she should say anything.

"I... I'm fine." Her voice shook, and he didn't appear convinced.

"No, you're not." He said, taking a step towards her. "You're upset."

"I..."

"Cho, you know you can tell me anything." He looked so open, that Cho felt the words tumble from her lips before she could stop herself.

"I... just saw Roger... with Marietta." She said, swallowing a lump in her throat. "I... didn't know... how serious... they were."

He nodded, though a crease formed between his eyebrows and a line pressed between his lips. She looked away, unsure if he was angry with her or with them... but she thought she could explain.

"I met Roger my first year... with Marietta." A wistful yet pained expression appeared on her face. "He was nice to both of us, friendly and warm... and I started to think... that it was fate that brought us together. That maybe... he'd realize it too."

A few tears trickled down her cheek, and she hugged herself, looking at him for understanding. "Isn't that silly of me? An analytical Ravenclaw who believes in fate... but fate can't be one-sided..."

Cedric took another step towards her, and she saw his robes inches away from her face. She felt him place his hands on her waist, and she looked up at him, surprised. His voice was serious. "I'll help you forget about him."

She felt dumbstruck, and broke away from him, running again. Her heart pounded in her ears, a flush in her cheeks. _I'll help you forget about him_? No... Cedric wasn't... that couldn't be right. He startled her. He didn't say... no, he didn't mean... it.

She ran to the entrance of the Ravenclaw tower. What? She looked distractedly around herself, and cringed. She realized she left her bag in the library. She gulped, hastily fishing her handkerchief out of her robes and wiping her face. She took a step away from the portrait, when Cedric came walking towards her, a book in his hand and her bag swung around his shoulder.

He handed her bag to her, his voice soft. "When you ran into me at Hogsmeade... I felt the same way you did when you first met Roger. That it was fated to happen. I thought... maybe you could feel the same way I did... that I do. I don't care if it's one-sided... because I don't think I could ever give up on you."

His smile was bittersweet as he passed her the book in his hand. "I've been holding onto this for a long time... I... would love it if you could give it to me someday."

With that, he walked away. She stared at his back, her eyes blinking at the shock of his words. She looked at the book. Quidditch: Through an Eagle's Eyes stared back at her. She hesitantly opened it to the first page, swallowing at her inscription. He had picked it up all those weeks ago. The realization left her standing stunned for a long time.


	5. Chapter 5

"_Did you hear? Sundays with Seekers has been dissolved_." The whispers of gossip filled the corridors early Saturday morning, burning Cho's ears as she made her way to the gates.

"_He didn't want her to feel uncomfortable_." Although the 'he' and the 'she' hadn't been specified, Cho knew who they were talking about. The looks they passed at her as she walked were painfully obvious.

"_For a Ravenclaw, she's not particularly bright, is she_?" Cho clutched the book she had been holding tightly to her chest. "_Did she realize he ran everyday from his classes just to walk her to her classes_?"

Cho paused. He never told her... and she never suspected. Why would he do such a thing? _I don't care if it's one-sided_... She closed her eyes as his words echoed in her heart, and tried to think. Cedric's smile... his laugh... his wild gestures in the clubroom and exaggerated expressions... _No!_ She tried to think of Roger... didn't she love him? Why didn't she see Roger's face? She only thought of Cedric as a friend, right?

She fingered the spine of the book. Quidditch: Through an Eagle's Eyes looked back at her. The silver lettering glinted under the sunlight, just like Cedric's eyes when he laughed. She found herself smiling, remember his crazy antics when they flew over the quidditch pitch. For someone as tall as he was, he didn't look bulky or intimidating on the field. His eyes always lit when he saw her, when he smiled, even if they were just studying in the library or walking to the Great Hall. And he was always there when she needed to talk about anything and everything... just like she was there when he needed her...

She blinked in surprise, as a flutter filled her heart and a smile crossed her face. She took off running. With the wind hugging her steps, she rushed to find him in Hogsmeade. He would be there, she knew instinctively; her best guess: Honeydukes, since he had a fondness for Ice Mice. And... there he was. Cedric Diggory. Her smile widened.

Cho raised her hand, about to call his name, when she stopped. The words froze inside her mouth. He was exiting Honeydukes, holding the door open for... Marietta Edgecombe. Cho felt a cold breeze hit her square in the face, and deja vu play chopsticks on her nerves. But following Marietta, Roger emerged. He waved thanks to Cedric and taking Marietta's hand, they walked away.

Cho stood there, dazed, her mouth slightly agape. She quickly closed it though, when Cedric spotted her and smiled. Her knees trembled, and she offered a weak smile in return. His words were warm and she felt a tingle on her skin. "Hey..."

He handed her a book, his smile growing. "I bought this is for you."

She took it, wrenching her eyes from his face and read the title. Quidditch: Tried and True Principles. She blinked, hesitantly opening the cover to find... _Love, Cedric_ inscribed. Color returned to her face and she smiled at him.

"I... want to give this to you." She shyly handed him the book she had been carrying. When he spotted the title, he beamed. He took her hand in his, entwined his fingers with hers, and she didn't pull away. She didn't run. Instead, she walked with him, watching his smile grow wider. Hers did as well. After all, it was fated to happen.

The End.


End file.
